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Category Description:

Program that delivers advertisements on your PC.

Note that many websites have their own advertising, unrelated to adware.

Adware is any software application in which advertising is displayed while the program is running. The authors of these applications include additional code that delivers the ads, which can be viewed through pop-up windows or through a bar that appears on a computer screen and sometimes through text links or in integrated search results. Adware may or may not track personal information. It may also gather information anonymously or in aggregate only. Users should check the EULA and Privacy policy to ensure if the adware on their machines conforms to their standards.

Official
Description:

BrowserAid is a manufacturer of various Internet Explorer toolbars, most of which seem to be installed sneakily.

Comment:

BrowserAid/ABCSearch offers a 'Power Search' feature when right-clicking a selection.

BrowserAid/CashToolbar, BrowserAid/LetsSearch and BrowserAid/QuickLaunch are minor variations on an adware theme.

The script at this site cannot tell them apart and detects them only as 'BrowserAid'. The toolbar opens untargeted pop-up adverts periodically when IE is open. LetsSearch hijacks home page and search settings to point to searchmadesafe.com; QuickLaunch points at quicklaunch.com.

BrowserAid/BrowserPal offers pop-up blocking features. It is a later version of BrowserAid/pStopper, a pop-up blocker which is not known to have been stealth-installed and is not targeted by the script at this site.

BrowserAid/Rundll16 is a smaller parasite that only opens pop-ups; it does not include a toolbar component. It hides in the Windows folder under the name 'rundll16', which is not a system file, but is a filename also used by other malware (eg. SubSeven trojan, Roron worm, ZMorph virus).

The software can download and execute arbitrary code from its controlling server, as an update feature.

The terms of use of the BrowserPal variant state this may also be used to install any other third-party software.

Information
URL:

http://www.browseraid.com/index2.htm

Manual
removal:

The software installs into the 'Downloaded Program Files' folder, and puts its settings into a 'CashToolbar' folder in 'Program Files'. Before you can delete the files you must deregister the toolbar. Open a DOS command prompt window (Start->Programs->Accessories) and enter:

cd "%WinDir%\System"
regsvr32 /u "..\Downloaded Program Files\CashToolbarIE.dll"
Then open the registry and find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. Delete the entry pointing to CashToolbar.exe. Restart the machine and you should be able to delete both 'Program Files\CashToolbar' and the Downloaded Program Files: